A method and system for device discovery in a wireless network is provided. The device discovery involves directionally transmitting a data unit from a transmitting station over a channel in different directions to emulate omni-directional transmission, receiving the data unit transmissions from different directions at a receiving station, determining the quality of the transmissions received from the different directions, and detecting location information for the transmitting station relative to the receiving station based on the highest quality transmission among the transmissions received from the different directions. Further, if a channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy direct link communication between two stations, then during a direct link set-up stage, the two stations conduct a probing message exchange using omni-direction transmission, and upon successful probing, obtain communication link status information and set proper communication configurations for the two stations based on the communication link status information.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method of wireless data communication, comprising: receiving a bandwidth request for wireless communication between two wireless stations over a wireless channel, wherein receiving the bandwidth request for wireless communication further includes receiving a bandwidth reservation request from a source station, within an unreserved channel time block (CTB); determining if the channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request; if the channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request, establishing a direct communication link between the two stations over the channel, including: during a direct link set-up stage, the two stations conducting a probing message exchange using omni-direction transmission; upon successful probing, obtaining communication link status information and setting proper communication configurations for the two stations based on the communication link status information; communicating audio/video/data information in reserved CTBs between the two stations; and a destination station measuring and comparing signal quality and other parameters of a direct link transmission (DLT) probe received from the source station.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein: establishing a direct communication link further includes: reserving CTBs for the requested bandwidth; and during a reserved CTB for DLT, the source station probing a destination station by sending the DLT probe as a MAC command in omni-directional emulation mode in a low-rate channel, and waiting for a DLT probe response from the source station.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein establishing a direct communication link further includes: upon receiving a DLT probe response from the destination station, repeating a DLT probe request/response exchange between the source and destination stations to a threshold.
4. The method of claim 2 wherein establishing a direct communication link further includes: upon receiving a DLT probe response from the destination station, if probing of the destination station by the source station in omni-directional mode at the low-rate channel is successful, then the source station reporting a successful DLT set-up; otherwise, the source station requesting release of the reserved CTBs due to DLT set-up failure.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein establishing a direct communication link further includes: upon a successful DLT set-up: performing link assessment/recommendation or beam-searching/steering in directional mode at a high-rate channel or the low-rate channel, to obtain accurate link status information in directional mode; setting proper transmission/reception configurations for the two stations; and communicating audio/video/data streams in the reserved CTBs between the source and destination stations.
6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: determining the direction of the source station relative to the destination station; and the destination station sending back a DLT probe response including channel coefficients information, to the source station.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring and comparing comprises the destination station measuring and comparing the signal quality and other parameters of repetition copies of the DLT probe received in different directions from the source station.
8. A system for wireless data communication, comprising: a coordinator configured for receiving a request for wireless communication between two stations over a wireless channel, determining if the channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request, and receiving a bandwidth reservation request from a source station, within an unreserved channel time block (CTB), such if the channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request, the coordinator reserves CTBs for the requested bandwidth; wherein the stations are configured such that, if the channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request, the stations establish a direct communication link therebetween, wherein during a direct link set-up stage, the two stations conduct a probing message exchange using omni-direction transmission, and upon successful probing proper communication configurations for the two stations are set based on the communication link status information, and the two stations communicate audio/video/data information in the reserved CTBs, wherein the stations include a source station and a destination station, and the destination station measures and compares the signal quality and other parameters of a direct link transmission (DLT) probe received the source station.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein: the source station and the destination station are configured such that, during a reserved CTB for DLT, the source station probes a destination station by sending the DLT probe as a MAC command in omni-directional emulation mode in a low-rate channel, and waits for a DLT probe response from the source station.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein the stations are configured such that, upon receiving a DLT probe response from the destination station, if probing of the destination station by the source station in omni-directional mode at the low-rate channel is successful, then the source station reports a successful DLT set-up; otherwise, the source station requests release of the reserved CTBs due to DLT set-up failure.
11. The system of claim 10 wherein the stations are configured such that, upon successful DLT set-up: the stations perform link assessment/recommendation or beam-searching/steering in directional mode at a high rate channel or the low rate channel, to obtain accurate link status information in directional mode; set proper transmission/reception configurations for the two stations; and communicate audio/video/data streams in the reserved CTBs between the source and destination stations.
12. The system of claim 9 , further comprising: the destination station determines the direction of the source station relative to the destination station; and the destination station sends back a DLT probe response including channel coefficients information, to the source station.
13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the destination station measures and compares the signal quality and other parameters of repetition copies of the DLT probe received in different directions from the source station.
14. A system for wireless data communication, comprising: a source station transmitting a bandwidth reservation request to a coordinator, within an unreserved channel time block (CTB), such if a wireless channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy a communication request for wireless communication between two stations comprising the source station and a destination station over the wireless channel, the coordinator reserves CTBs for the requested bandwidth; wherein the two stations are configured such that, if the wireless channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request, the two stations establish a direct communication link therebetween, and communicate audio/video/data information in the reserved CTBs between the two stations; wherein the destination station measures and compares the signal quality and other parameters of a direct link transmission (DLT) probe received from the source station.
15. The system of claim 14 , further comprising: during a direct link set-up stage, the two stations conduct a probing message exchange using omni-direction transmission, and upon successful probing proper communication configurations for the two stations are set based on the communication link status information.
16. The system of claim 15 wherein: the two stations are configured such that, during a reserved CTB for DLT, the source station probes a destination station by sending the DLT probe as a MAC command in omni-directional emulation mode in a low-rate channel, and waits for a DLT probe response from the source station.
17. The system of claim 16 wherein the two stations are configured such that, upon receiving a DLT probe response from the destination station, if probing of the destination station by the source station in omni-directional mode at the low-rate channel is successful, then the source station reports a successful DLT set-up; otherwise, the source station requests release of the reserved CTBs due to DLT set-up failure.
18. The system of claim 17 wherein the two stations are configured such that, upon successful DLT set-up: the two stations perform link assessment/recommendation or beam-searching/steering in directional mode at a high rate channel or the low rate channel, to obtain accurate link status information in directional mode; set proper transmission/reception configurations for the two stations; and communicate audio/video/data streams in the reserved CTBs between the source and destination stations.
19. The system of claim 16 , further comprising: the destination determines the direction of the source station relative to the destination station; and the destination station sends back a DLT probe response including channel coefficients information, to the source station.
20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the destination station measures and compares the signal quality and other parameters of repetition copies of the DLT probe received in different directions from the source station.
21. A system for wireless data communication, comprising: a source station transmitting a bandwidth reservation request to a coordinator, within an unreserved channel time block (CTB), such if a wireless channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy a communication request for wireless communication between two stations comprising the source station and a destination station over the wireless channel, the coordinator reserves CTBs for the requested bandwidth; wherein the two stations are configured such that, if the wireless channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request, the two stations establish a direct communication link therebetween; wherein during a direct link set-up stage, the two stations conduct a probing message exchange using omni-direction transmission, and upon successful probing proper communication configurations for the two stations are set based on the communication link status information; wherein the destination station measures and compares the signal quality and other parameters of repetition copies of the probing message received in different directions from the source station, and determines the direction of the source station relative to the destination station; and the destination station sends back a probe response including channel coefficients information, to the source station.
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January 14, 2011
December 30, 2014
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